This is fucking gro-o-o-o-o-ooossss! Both Valentino and the UGG corporation have been caught attempting to leverage Philip Seymour Hoffman's celebrity-heavy funeral for brand recognition.

Valentino emailed fashion bloggers and journalists on Friday morning photos of Hoffman's "The Master" co-star Amy Adams wearing their Garavani Rockstud Duble bag on her way to the memorial service.

"We are pleased to announce Amy Adams carrying the Valentino Garavani Rockstud Duble bag from the Spring/Summer 2014 collection on February 6th in New York," the release stated. It included street shots of the actress sporting their bag.

...Ugg Australia gifted friends of Hoffman who they assumed would visit New York City for the funeral. They included a message encouraging them to wear their winter boots in the cold city weather, according to Ugg Australia associates.

"They did gifting in the hopes that that would happen," an Ugg associate told The Post.

...Valentino rep Mona Swanson told The Post in a statement, "We were not aware the photograph was taken while she was attending the wake of Philip Seymour Hoffman. It was an innocent mistake and we apologize to Ms. Adams who was not aware, or a part of, our PR efforts."

I hope that's true, y'all! Meanwhile, this guy stood outside and live-tweeted the series of stars arriving at the funeral. Ugg indeed. [PageSix]

In other Philip Seymour Hoffman news, Hunger Games producers say they plan to use CGI to complete his role in Mockingjay: Part 2. [Mix94.1]

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And Russell Brand wrote a really important essay about Hoffman's death and the counterproductive barbarousness of existing drug laws:

If drugs are illegal people who use drugs are criminals. We have set our moral compass on this erroneous premise, and we have strayed so far off course that the landscape we now inhabit provides us with no solutions and greatly increases the problem.

This is an important moment in history; we know that prohibition does not work. We know that the people who devise drug laws are out of touch and have no idea how to reach a solution. Do they even have the inclination? The fact is their methods are so gallingly ineffective that it is difficult not to deduce that they are deliberately creating the worst imaginable circumstances to maximise the harm caused by substance misuse.

People are going to use drugs; no self-respecting drug addict is even remotely deterred by prohibition. What prohibition achieves is an unregulated, criminal-controlled, sprawling, global mob-economy, where drug users, their families and society at large are all exposed to the worst conceivable version of this regrettably unavoidable problem.

...The troubling message behind Philip Seymour Hoffman's death, which we all feel without articulating, is that it was unnecessary and we know that something could be done. We also know what that something is and yet, for some traditional, prejudicial, stupid reason we don't do it.

Clint Eastwood saved the life of a man who was choking to death on cheese.

"I was drinking water and eating these little appetizers, threw down a piece of cheese and it just didn't work," John said Friday. "I was looking at him and couldn't breathe. He recognized it immediately and saved my life."

..."I looked in his eyes and saw that look of panic people have when they see their life passing before their eyes," Eastwood tells The Carmel Pine Cone. "It looked bad."

He said it was the first time he had used the Heimlich maneuver.

"Clint came up behind me and he knew exactly what to do," John said. "I can't believe I'm 202 pounds and he threw me up in the air three times."